I begin this Blog with some trepidation. Will I really have anything interesting to say? Will it be an exercise in futility because no one will read it? Will it be interesting even to me? Is this just another thing to keep up with that will detract me from the multiple tasks in this life that I should be doing? Ah well, we won't know any answers until we do and see, and so I will try it and see where it takes me.

I have been seriously thinking about my collection of dolls, and myself as a collector, for a little over a year now, though I have been collecting for over 43 years. I have a large collection of mismatch and what I fear any serious collector might call junk. Why this should disturb me now I do not know. I have loved my little collection over the years and it grows daily by a doll here, two dolls there to the point where I have to seriously think now about where I am going to put things before they become damaged. I got 2 new dolls this week alone and my dolls are in every room of my house, my car, my garage and my relatives houses.

That old saying "A Little Education Is A Dangerous Thing" comes to mind, as this past year was my first in the world of UFDC which did its best to educate me on all manner of dolls. Porcelain, composition, bisque, resin, celluloid, plastic, cloth, wood- Kestner, Jumeau, Bild-Lilly, French, German, antique, modern, etc. I was taught about them all and learn I did, and much of what I learned led 1. To the knowledge that I do not have any of the dolls that I learned about, not really a single one in the "worth something department" and 2 to make matters worse, this education led me to the sneaking suspicion that my own little collection of over 200 dolls, is a bit substandard and perhaps I would be embarrassed to share it with anyone other than children. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that if I want to consider myself a real collector I need to pump it up, or as my mother would say – develop a more refined pallet. I also know that I have a lot more to learn that will take me this life time and my next.

Hum, now I have loved my little collection and I guess that is all that should matter but as Charles Forte said “On can’t learn much and also be comfortable. One can’t learn much and let anybody else be comfortable.” And so I find myself uncomfortable and I guess the inevitable will be that I will make others uncomfortable too in my quest to learn more about dolls and then to grow from and use that knowledge as a collector. Is this a DollEpiphany?

I have never wanted to be a snooty collector who only has the upper echelon of dolls, (My job as a teacher and my hopeless inability to stop wasting money on others and nonsense and or stop wasting money period, has precluded me from having the money to by the upper echelon and much else I want like a house and trips around the world and a new car) but I would like to have some of the finer things of the doll world. I’d like to have a few a few Mignonette’s and Jumeaus. I love those Kewpies! I would like to have the Chinoiseriemusical tea pouring doll that was in Doll News magazine and which I had the delight to see at the Angel’s Attic Sale. (10,000 dollars mind you) But how would they change the dynamics of the collection I have now? As far as I know everyone gets along together. If I were to have these new and elite, where would they go? Surely they’d have to have a special place in my very disorderly world. How would the other dolls feel about that, who are for the most part content to sit on the shelf, or the floor or on the TV sharing space in my world which is not pretty. Would I then have to have special cases, and locks and keys And Insurance? And how would these new editions change me? For the better? The worst? And in the end would I be any happier with my collection? Would I be any better a person/collector? Would I be less shamed to show it to others who collect names or more ashamed of myself for worrying about what others think?

I guess this is a journey that you can all make with me. I love dolls and elite or no my relationship is with the doll and how I feel to have it. I love dolls for various reasons and I guess I can be a reverse snob too by thinking an elite doll would not like to share my world just because of his or her pedigree.Maybe this is just me growing into a new stage in my life with tastes changing and ideas and thoughts expanding as I reflect on my collection. Well we’ll see where this all goes. I’ll keep you posted.

I have a small collection too. I went through the same angst about my collection also.

Reply

Kimberly A Seger

3/17/2018 07:28:49 pm

My name is Jody seger my daughter name is Kim I am looking for someone one to donate a vintage or knock off vintage Barbie doll. Kim had a string of bad luck she losted her job afer14 yrs then she had a heart attack and she just had another she needs a pick me up. Our address is 133 McDonald blvd Swansea Il 62226 God bless